With the advent of the automatic milking machine, it has become necessary or at least desirable to support various components of the machine in order to facilitate milking and/or protect the animal to be milked from injury or undue annoyance. While many devices have been suggested and/or utilized heretofore for supporting various components, no such device has been successful heretofore in providing adequate support for the milking claw while still providing the necessary degree of flexability to allow the claw to be moved to follow movement of the cow during milking. Heretofore, it has been common either to provide minimal or no support for the milking claw or to provide a support with little flexibility and has not produced the most efficient results. While a few attempts have been made to provide a movable support for the milking claw, these supports have not allowed the degree of movement necessary.
While some of the prior art devices have utilized linking arms at least to some degree in providing support for the milking claw, such linking arms have not proved to be completely acceptable for the intended purposes and, more particularly, have not allowed the flexability desired and/or necessary. In addition, none of the supporting or linking arms heretofore suggested or utilized have included spaced parallel arms in attempting to achieve the desired result and none have provided a locking mechanism for such arms.
It has also been found desirable that the milking claw be withdrawn from the immediate milking area after milking has been completed. While various devices have also be suggested and/or utilized for causing retraction of the claw when the end of milking is signalled, these devices have likewise failed to be completely successful in accomplishing the intended purpose in an economical and dependable manner. In addition, none of the known devices cause retraction of the milking device by lifting, folding and rotating the device by means of separate actuating means.